Cookeville the new home Of The Jim Beam Pro Classic (Hendersonville: hotels, restaurants)

[BuffaloHome]

Being able to host large sporting events is a boost to the local economy. I heard some local officials on the radio last week (94.1 I think) say that almost every weekend since March the hotels in Cookeville have been close to 100% fully booked, and in many of those instances it's because Cookeville is becoming a very attractive place to host athletic events.

In this case, the Jim Beam Pro Classic is a softball and baseball tournament with over 30 teams from all over the country. They had been holding their tournament in Hendersonville (suburban Nashville) but when a scheduling conflict arose this year, only one week before the tournament the organizers contacted Cookeville officials who scrambled around, with the help of Tennessee Tech, to make sure the tournament could be held locally. It was so successful that the Jim Beam Pro Classic director asked that Cookeville become the tournament's permanent home.

This is a tournament with over 2,000 athletes, many of whom travel with their families. And because this tournament was so successful, others who had previously not considered Cookeville are now requesting information on holding their tournaments here, too.

This kind of cooperation between civic leaders in our area is one reason we're enjoying such prosperity, particularly in the hospitality industry as we see more and more restaurants opening and hotels coming.

Director of Tourism Shan Stout said she received a call from the tournament’s director Wednesday saying there had not been one complaint among players and participants. The tournament moved from Hendersonville to Cookeville less than a week before the start date.

“It was just an amazing return on our investment,” Stout said. “Because sometimes when you work so hard and they come but they don’t come back you know that would be dissappointing. But the fact that they’re not only coming back, they’re like we want this to be our permanent home, it was just an amazing return on our investment.”

Stout said Cookeville hosted more than 2,000 athletes for the 2023 tournament. She said it was a big win with participants eating in local restaurants and shopping in local businesses.

Stout said there were tens of thousands of viewers online.

“They aired each field across social media and YouTube,” Stout said. “And this was just a fantastic shot in the arm for sports tourism for Putnam County.”

Stout said hosting the tournament over the weekend has resulted in two other tournament directors reaching out to see if Cookeville can host their tournaments as well.

https://newstalk941.com/putnam-count...m-pro-classic/

[Lin19687]

That's great news all around !